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Convo with the 3.5 yr old

We see a spotted Great Dane on the street.

Samar: MAMA THERE IS A COW WALKING
Neil: Samar thats a very big dog.
S: No its not na uh its a cow, ask Mama
N:Mama is it a cow or a dog?

I said its a huge dog but it does kinda look like a cow.
Samar and Neil: I TOLD YOU SO…to each other.

————————————————-

All four were in the car. We pass a sign that says Report Drunk Drivers.

Ava: What drunk means?
Ash: When you drink alcohol and become tipsy.
Neil: Yeah and you start talking rubbish, like when daddy was at V’s house.
Samar: Whats alcohol?
Ash: Its what big people drink and its not good for you.Like wine and beer. You can only drink it when you are 21 yrs old.
Ava: Well I am NEVER drinking alcohol and never getting drunk. Mama can you get drunk on soda?

I missed my turn on the street, so engrossed I was listening to their convo. You know how people always tell you children enrichen your life and are precious and all that jazz. Most of the time, ITS NOT TRUE. Having kids will suck everything out of you, from your droppy boobs to paying their stinking college tuition. From grey hairs wondering whether they are going to take drugs/smoke/fight/get into unpleasant situation to worrying about whether their toys have lead.
Those people lied and want you to suffer as well.

But sometimes(very rarely) having kids and listening to their outlook on life can make everything else seem so simple in comparison.
PS: I did a guest post over at Apron Thrift Girl

Monday MoneySavers

I somehow lost the zeal of blogging. Hence, the no posts. I mean how much can you hear about what was the latest thrifting thing I found. Or Samar had another bad outbreak(he ate rice) or that I am still not working out. In other words, things are what they were over the past 2 months.The girls are in Girl Scout camp this week. The boys will have summer camp and I will have 2 glorious days( 3 hours each) of NO KIDS!

Last week, one of my fav thrift stores underwent a major re hauling. They threw out a lot of things. Organized their furniture. Best of all they did this to their shelves 

In case you cannot read 4 for $1

 See the white teapot, brand new from Starbucks. Bought it and gave it away. The blue Grecian vase, Samar’s preschool teacher bought it to use as a prop in a play she is doing. 

I bought quite a few thing. Another Villeroy and Boch. 

Oversized cup and saucer

 This is what I got 

A cheese/cake platter

  

A heavy marble lazy susan

A tiny ice-bucket

 Stuff

  

Really like the 2 long plates. I am using one as a spoon rest

I know hate me now!

Linking to ATG’s Party and SouthernHospitality Blog’s Party

Monday Moneysavers

I went to a barn sale early last week. I normally do not wake up to hit yard sales. Most of the sales, I either go late or the next day when its 50% off.

This was in a little beach town and the drive up at 8 in the morning with no traffic and heavy early morning fog, reminded me of the hindi movies where they show the Shimla hill stations.

The sale ad stated it will open at 9, I reached at 8.45. There were 10-12 people in line. Each time, the owners brought something out, this group of people followed him, asking the price and touching and feeling. He then carried out this gorgeous farm style enough seating for 10 dining table. It was really something. A dark walnut type stain with pretty legs. Apparently this caused a frenzy amongst the sharks vulturespeople waiting outside. This guy said, I am interested in that. Another guy chimed in with I was here first and I call it first. 3rd guy harasses the owner about the price. It was insane. I meanwhile was right beside my car sipping my chai looking at horror at the way these people were behaving.

The owner then says he is going to take bids and to leave him the hell alone(his words). It was 9 and the owner opened up his exterior yard which had all the small tchotchkes. I kid you not my wonderful readers, these men ran to the back. And started grabbing whatever they could find. It was insane. I have never seen anything like this.

I had gone specially to get Griswold Cast iron skillets. To either re-sell or keep. I saw them grabbed them and kept them aside. I then walked around and saw many cute things. I only had $65 cash on me. I knew the Griswolds were going to expensive so I didnt buy anything else. I then saw this for $1 and picked it up

Cast iron 2 tier basket with peaches from the farmer's market

 Coming back to the Griswolds, I bought a no 8 with lid skillet, a no 6 skillet, a waffle iron(post coming on that soon) and 2-3 wagners. The guy said $60 for the lot amd I nodded yes, grabbed it along with the basket and left the vultures to do their digging.

Joining ATG’s party

ETA: Look what I found at a local thrift store.

Deva Deva!

Am I an indulgent mom?

I drive a 01(I think) Odyssey. Its  fully paid for. Its our main vehicle and the mileage on it is like 110k. Its been from CA to CO back to CA and now to WA. We literally eat, sleep, and drink in it. At any given time, you can find, wipes, toys, kites, sand toys, change of clothes, 2-3 jackets, various books, crayons, markers, kids music cds, yarn,trash, wrapper, seeds.(right now, its squeaky clean. I vacuumed and scrubbed for 3 hours on Sunday)

Now, the boys sit on the 2 captain seats. Their window is plastered with stickers. From various doc’s visits. This convo happened a while ago.

Mom 1: Did you see the van with all the stickers in the parking lot.

Mom 2: yeah

Me: hey is it a silver one, thats mine!

Mom 2: Wow you are a very indulgent mom to let your kids do that.

Me: Its only a van, its paid off, and I am going to drive it to the bones. The stickers craze will last only a few more years. At the end of the day, the van will be gone but my kids will always remember that I let them plaster the windows.

Mom 1: Hmm I never thought of that.

Me: Now see if I had a Rx3(Mom1 drives that) or an Audi(Mom 2 drives that) maybe I would think twice.

The convo ended there.

Is that called being indulgent? I had posted a picture of the boys plastering their dresser with stickers.It’s a nice dresser that I had picked for less than $20 on CL.

Sigh

When I asked the boys why he did it. Neil’s reply was is it hurting anyone’s feelings? Its in my room(at that point, Samar screamed OUR) right. I let that be as well because he is right. He didnt do anything to my sewing table or the laptop or the dining hutch.

What about you guys? What is the most indulgent thing you did for your child or your spouse?

Here I am! Monday MoneySavers

The love feels nice. The asking when I am coming back. Whether anything is seriously wrong or am I just having my period being bitchy.

The drive to WA was fantastic. I actually drove straight through and reached the island at 1 a/m. Thats 850 miles, about 15 hours of driving with lunch/dinner and potty breaks. The longest stretch of driving I did was from 830p/m to 1. The kids were all sleeping and the road’s dark. Kinda of scary but I survived. the fastest I did was 95mph. The van started rattling then and I eased off the gas pedal and turned on the cruise control at a easy 75mph.

Meeting my niece was the best. Can I just say she is very smart. Hop over to  Sonia’sblog to read about our visit.  We stayed a week. Yes I could have stayed longer but the kids were antsy to get home. I didnt want NK to have too much fun without us and so I packed the kids, loaded the car and did the drive back home. Again reached at midnight, exhausted. The way the kids reacted on seeing their beds and toys and TV(Sonia has no TV in her house), one would think they were away for months.

I dragged Sonia out to a GW near her house. She bought some books and some cutesy glass stuff. Guess what I found. My 2nd piece of Villeroy and Boch.

New Wave Coffee Cups

Macy’s has them for $26,99. Amazon has them for $16.99. These 3 had a Macy’s return sticker and looks brand new. I paid 99 cents each. My niece kept calling them the silly cup.

We are almost 1/2 way through the summer holidays. Neil has Science camp next week and the girls are doing GS camp in 2 weeks. While I love the carefree summer days, I think I will be that much happier once school starts.

I should go to bed, its past midnight and the house is so quiet. Maybe tomorrow I will tell you guys, about the barn sale I went to and how adults were fighting over a dining table. Where I scored Griswold skillets.

Updates and What not

NK got back Wed evening and has slept at least 50 hours. I think its better to have a spouse who is out of the country than to have one who is jetlagged(all those who speak up in favor of him being tired and all would be banned from the blog henceforth)

The diet is still going strong. I ate home made pizza last night and felt like this horrible cheater.I am still not working out but somehow the diet makes me feel skinner.

Big news. The kids and I are going on a road trip to visit my sis who is on an island 850 miles away from us. We are loading up the minivan, packing swimsuits and heading up. I am kinda nervous about the whole thing. NK was suppose to go take time off and go with us but he has almost no vacation left or he had a something on at work. I am going to do the drive in 2 days, staying overnight at some motel. I am thinking whats the worst that can go wrong? A flat tyre?  I just serviced the van so it shouldnt break down.

Ebay has been good to me. I am happy. I sold 2 things on CL and have a bit of cash. The sun is shinning. I am going to see my sister and niece after 2.5 years. The kids will run crazy. What more can I ask for?

Watch for updates on the drive. I will do short posts

Monday MoneySavers

This is an old one. I normally dont buy electronics from thrift stores because you dont know the condition. Almost all stores have a no exchange policy with their electronic stuff.

I saw this at Savers.

Euroflex Monster Steam Cleaner

 I brought out the G1 and googled the brand. A UK company .Went to amazon and read this review. I plugged her in. The light went on but how did I know it will heat up enough to work. It was $12.99 which is above my thrifting point. I went to the housewares dept, got a pitcher, went into the bathroom, got water and poured it in and waited for the thing to heat up.(I went on a Thurs morning and asked permission before I did all this, the manager said, sure clean my floors while testing it! )

MONSTER!

It gave a puff of hot steam. The other customers, came around to see what I was doing(notice I always attract a crowd). I pushed the button on top of the handle and there was puff of hot hot steam. The filthy floors looked awesome.It heated up and worked beautifully on the store’s tiles floors.

I bought it thinking I would resell it. It came with the carpet glider and 2 in decent shape  extra floor pads. I brought it home and of course tested it on my filthy kitchen floors. It worked like  a dream.

NK came home and I showed it to him. He loved it and forbid me to resell…

The funny thing is, I saw a 2nd one the last time I was at Savers. Only this one didnt work !

Linking to ATG‘s and Southern Hospitality‘s Thrifty parties!

Day 2 of Samar’s Diet

Yesterday I went to Sujatha’shouse and had thosai..which is something Samar cannot have but I did. I couldnt resist the crispy paper thin thosai.

Today we were invited to a neighbour’s party and I lied to her,saying that my mil told me to fast because it was one week since the news of my fil and so I couldnt eat her food. Naughty sraikh! I didnt even look at the cake. I made pork and had that with broccoli. The older kids just pulled pork with bread. Avasha is demanding for rice. Its so so hard, I wanted to make eggs and toast in the morning and I resisted.

I wanted Parle G biscuits with my afternoon chai but again I said no. I cannot imagine my poor child facing his siblings who eat everything and yet he doesnt complain.  Imagine if I did this for 2 weeks a month a whole year, how much weight I would lose. Just cutting out wheat ensures one cannot eat so many evil but oh so yummy stuff.

Breakfast–the older kids wanted pancake…I dont know what to make for Samar’s breakfast.

Lunch, I plan to make fish curry for lunch and rice for the older kids.

Dinner…??

Sigh! Its close to 1 a/m and I should be going to bed.

Daily Outfit 6/18

 After a long time eh? I look fat..look at my triple chin…eeek!

Sigh

 Maxi Dress: Ross or something..I was trying to look for an earlier daily outfit where I wore this and couldnt find it.

Cardigan: An really old cardigan which I love

Chappal:Marshalls

Long silver necklace from the estate sale haul.

No make up! No combing of hair…Its the real me!!

Mere Aansu sukh gaye*

I had Samar’s appt today. to follow up on the 2nd blood test we did on the stuff he has been eating, stuff like arrowroot,rice, potatoes, sweet potato, tapioca flour,turkey, pork, beef. NK was suppose to go with me to this appt. The kids are on summer vacation and I didnt want to drag all 4. A neighbour kindly offered to keep the older 3. When I dropped them off, Samar started screaming that he wanted to go to the playdate. He kept screaming throughout the drive, “let me out stupid car seat Let me out stupid car seat”

He wouldnt come out of the van and went in the back row and sat there for 6 mins. Finally he needed to pee and so we rushed to the doctor’s office. There, he kept screaming his head and wouldnt come out of the bathroom. I was going to start bawling myself, even before seeing the doctor. Luckily, a nurse came and got him and offered him a movie.

Watching Max and Ruby

These past few days, his skin has been horrible. He has open sores on the corner of his mouth, under both eyes, the back of his knees, his arm joints. No matter how much antibiotic cream or lotion I douse him in, his skin is dry as the Sahara? He has been up at night, screaming it itches!

He hasn’t eaten any strawberries, corn(well unless the corn syrup that one find in almost everything) or applesauce. and yet his skin was so so bad.. The pollen count in my city was extremely high as well, so that could have been a factor.

Anyways, the doctor asked me, Am I going to cry again ? I said I will try not to. So he tested positive for rice, a 13.20..the rest of the things were negative. I said, what is he going to eat then? What am I going to feed him now? he has rice and rice pancakes almost everyday.

So the doctor gives me a list

  1. potato
  2. Honey
  3. pork
  4. Beef
  5. Turkey
  6. Tapioca
  7. Fish
  8. Clams
  9. Buckwheat-I googled and this is kuttu atta. I never even knew it
  10. Maple Syrup
  11. Berries except strawberries
  12. Oranges
  13. Applesauce but not apples
  14. Grapes and raisin
  15. Olive Oil
  16. Saffola Oil
  17. Canola Oil
  18. Spinach
  19. Broccoli
  20. Cabbage
  21. Cauliflower
  22. Squash
  23. Pumpkin
  24. his Special Neocate formula
  25. FORGOT TO ADD CHICKEN

And a daily multivitamin.he also wants me to implement a daily bleach bath. He said its been very successful with 2-3 of his patients whose skin is as bad as Samar’s. The reader that told me about Mimys ,He gave me another lotion similar to that. A prednisolone and an antibiotic to help his skin for now.

We do this diet for 2 weeks,along with his bleach baths. I go back and evaluate with him and we re-introduce one food at one time. Any food that got a value of less than 20 on the blood test(corn, apple,rice,strawberries to name a few )

I have decided that I need to go on this diet with him. I told the dr that and he said he highly recommended it because it will be easier for me than to figure out to what to feed him. My only exception would be milk(for my morning and evening chai). Am I insane? Maybe! Will I be able to do it? Maybe I would lose a bunch of weight and label this diet the Samar Diet and become rich?

The sad thing is I dont know how the other kids would feel about us restricting so many things.. I havent bought strawberries since 3 weeks. If he was an only child, my life would be much easier…but to balance the needs(wants) of the older 3 with his is tough. They already accuse me of favouring Samar more because I dont  allow things he cannot eat in the house. Ice-cream,cookies, kettle corn amongst many more.

Sigh, lately all I seem to be doing is crying and whining.I keep telling myself, other parents have it worse than just not seeing their child eat strawberries. To suck it up and not be so dramatic about it and yet, even now I have tears in my eyes while composing this post. Me, the heartless bitch who would never cried. I NEVER CRIED>.Everyone in my household would be crying and I would be the strong one and now the slightest thing makes me cry.

*My tears have dried up.

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